Here is a piece written by me, and played by David April. We had a very successful collaboration. We corresponded many times, (and went through about 6 different versions) before I gave him a final draft that he practiced. This piece is an experiement with words and pictures. The score is essentially two things, a short story and a music score. You will hear a little of Mompou in it, it is directly based off of his last piece of "Musica Callada" this mystical set of recordings which Monica has recorded and has staggered my mind and continues to!

Here it is:

EDIT: I have replaced the skydrive link with a good old-fashioned attachment:

Thanks for posting "In the Distance" here, and also for dedicating the piece to me. I too enjoyed the collaboration. Yes, we did score changes, and I had to relearn some notes in the process , but it was always fun. Hopefully others here will enjoy this first recording.

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

An intriguing and beautiful piece with, indeed, more than a hint of Mompou (nothing wrong with that, I am quick to add).You are composing better pieces all the time ! Also kudos to David's sensitive playing.The ending is exquisite, and perfectly pitched by the performer. But the very last chord (which I had not expected, and is IMO totally superfluous) spoils it a bit for me. I think the piece would be better off without it, but that is just my two cents.

On the last chord: It's actually a two-note dyad, each note a G separated by a few octaves. I tried to keep it very quiet to stay in character with the rest of the coda that precedes it. The dyad acts as a "period", and while it it doesn't add much, I don't think it detracts either, but that's just my opinion. I suppose the piece could end on the final ascending note (a B in the treble) as you suggest. But that would be up to Riley, of course.

Regarding Mompou's beginning and closing theme, at the top of the score Riley credited Mompou, thus paying homage to the composer in quoting the theme in his own work.

I'm glad you liked the piece!

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

Hi Riley and David,I have enjoyed the composition as much as the performance. It seems profound and thoughtful to me. I have not compared with the Mompou-piece, but if I have understood correctly, it´s a piece by Mompou with a new middle-part by Riley, right? That´s an interesting Experiment and I think, it´s a full success, because I have not recognized any diskontinuation respective "break" of style or something like this. The Piece seems a complete wholeness to me, what means, that Riley was able to feel in the style of Mompou very well. That´s a great achievement IMHO. Davids musical and expressive playing brings out the profoundness of this work in a great manner!I would be very curious to see this work with the text, the pictures and the music! Do you plan to make a video with it?

I did not realize there was literally quoted Mompou here. Perhaps the piece should have been titled "Homage a Mompou" ? Or "In the Distance (Homage a Mompou)". This is often what compoers do when writing in the style (or quoting) another composer.

Indeed the middle section is very idiomatic and fits perfectly. Kudos !

@David: I did not criticize your playing of the closing chord, only the fact that it's there. I was completely satisfied with the last note of that ascending arpeggio (and the way you played it), and found the closing chord a bit of an anticlimax.

I did not realize there was literally quoted Mompou here. Perhaps the piece should have been titled "Homage a Mompou" ? Or "In the Distance (Homage a Mompou)". This is often what compoers do when writing in the style (or quoting) another composer.

Yes, I agree that this piece is holistic in that Riley's original writing integrates so well with Mompou's opening and closing statements. There is no disconnect, instead he skillfully makes it all blend together.

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

Sounds intriguing but for some reason I cannot get the file. Why not post in the usual way?

I have reposted the file as an attachment, now.

@ Monica

Quote:

Hi Guys. This is more than just a 'little' Mompou. The entire beginning and mostly the end is ALL Mompou. Still the middle part is nice. Good job, Riley and David!

Thanks for taking the time to listen and for the congratulations. Yes, I wrote "After Mompou" on the score, though perhaps that is only suitable for transcriptions? The Beginning is the piece without changes, though the ending uses this piece at the end of Book IV in a different way. It starts with the ending, then goes back to the beginning where it would be (had I not written my own middle section) and then the ending is my own.

@ Chris

Quote:

I did not realize there was literally quoted Mompou here. Perhaps the piece should have been titled "Homage a Mompou" ? Or "In the Distance (Homage a Mompou)". This is often what compoers do when writing in the style (or quoting) another composer.

That is an easy addition to make to the score and I will do that.

Quote:

But the very last chord (which I had not expected, and is IMO totally superfluous) spoils it a bit for me. I think the piece would be better off without it, but that is just my two cents.

I have a history of ruining endings, so perhaps this adds to the list.. Though I don't think it is so out of place, but omitting it wouldn't be a bad choice either. Maybe what's in the distance is more a mystery without the closing chord

@ Andreas

Quote:

Hi Riley and David,I have enjoyed the composition as much as the performance. It seems profound and thoughtful to me. I have not compared with the Mompou-piece, but if I have understood correctly, it´s a piece by Mompou with a new middle-part by Riley, right? That´s an interesting Experiment and I think, it´s a full success, because I have not recognized any diskontinuation respective "break" of style or something like this. The Piece seems a complete wholeness to me, what means, that Riley was able to feel in the style of Mompou very well. That´s a great achievement IMHO. Davids musical and expressive playing brings out the profoundness of this work in a great manner!I would be very curious to see this work with the text, the pictures and the music! Do you plan to make a video with it?

I haven't thought of making a video, though that would be very interesting, an filmic adaptation of a music piece and poem. Maybe someday! I will release the scores of all cash's pieces to all of you who have been involved with this project. I am happy to say I just found out a way to combine multiple PDFs into 1 PDF, which makes the prospect of creating complete sets easier.

David had a wonderful idea in this piece to create a gong sound and you can hear that toward the end of my middle section. It is an experiment stemming from his study project with a former teacher where he had to recreate the sound for Ravel's Mother Goose piece, Laideronette.

My influences for this piece were Medtner, Scriabin, Griffes and lastly, of course, Mompou.

_________________"I don't know what music is, but I know it when I hear it." - Alan SchuylerRiley Tucker

I have a history of ruining endings, so perhaps this adds to the list.. Though I don't think it is so out of place, but omitting it wouldn't be a bad choice either. Maybe what's in the distance is more a mystery without the closing chord

I think in this case, that is true. Unless you end with one of these magical dissonant Mompou chords But really, it is just my person al perception that it's better without.

Not really, because Rileys work is in traditional style. (So it´s not "contemporary" in the sense of "avantgarde" or so.)

Quote:

Yes, I agree that this piece is holistic in that Riley's original writing integrates so well with Mompou's opening and closing statements. There is no disconnect, instead he skillfully makes it all blend together.

You express what I wanted to say in a marvellous English (which I´m not able to, alas). Thank you!

Pianoman342 wrote:

Quote:

I haven't thought of making a video, though that would be very interesting, an filmic adaptation of a music piece and poem. Maybe someday! I will release the scores of all cash's pieces to all of you who have been involved with this project. I am happy to say I just found out a way to combine multiple PDFs into 1 PDF, which makes the prospect of creating complete sets easier.

David had a wonderful idea in this piece to create a gong sound and you can hear that toward the end of my middle section. It is an experiment stemming from his study project with a former teacher where he had to recreate the sound for Ravel's Mother Goose piece, Laideronette.

That´s a great idea, Riley. I´m very curious on the text and the new version with the gong sound.

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